Incumbent Kurt Schrader had a hefty lead in the Democratic party primary for the U.S. House of Representative seat from Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District, while Mark Callahan held a large lead in the Republican primary.

Schrader, 66, led Peter Wright by a 7 to 1 margin and will seek his sixth term in November’s general election.

Mark Callahan

Mark Callahan

Special to the Statesman Journal

Callahan, 41, led Joey Nations and Rob Reynolds by 3 to 1 margins.

Schrader and Callahan will face off in the general election in November.

Schrader, a retired veterinarian from Canby, has held the seat since 2008 with over 50 percent of the vote in the past five general elections. He has been a presence in Oregon politics since being elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1996.

Schrader said that his seniority in the House has helped him make a difference.

“I do feel in congressional life span I’m hitting my stride,” Schrader said. “I’m in one of the most powerful committees (the House Committee on Energy and Commerce) where we’re making a difference.

“Congressional life, at this time, it’s a lot about seniority and not about competence. I think we’ve developed a competency in a core group at this point in time. We’ve got some work to do.”

Callahan won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2016, but was defeated in the general election by incumbent Ron Wyden. Callahan has never won an election for a public office, but was the one candidate with whom voters were familiar in the primary.

"I think it has a lot to do with the name recognition from 2016 and getting out there and campaigning," Callahan said.

Joseph Nations

Joseph Nations

Special to the Statesman Journal

Wright, 74, Nations, 30, and Reynolds, 47, were all first-time candidates who hadn’t raised more than the $5,000 required to file reports with the Federal Election Commission by the March 31 deadline.

U.S. Congressional fifth district primary candidate Rob Reynolds.

U.S. Congressional fifth district primary candidate Rob Reynolds.

Special to the Statesman Journal

Schrader has more than $2.1 million on hand in his campaign; Callahan had $7,840 as of April 25.

Callahan has a huge money gap to make up.

"To beat him, basically hold him to his record, hold him accountable to his voting record," Callahan said.

"I think it’s about maintaining the base of Republicans, but also getting out there and talking to the unaffiliated voters and the independents."

U.S. Representative district 5 candidate Peter Wright.

U.S. Representative district 5 candidate Peter Wright.

Special to the Statesman Journal

Wright was pleased to have taken a sizable chunk of the Democratic vote despite Schrader’s campaign spending over $306,000 since Jan. 1 while Wright spent nothing and did no fundraising.

“I had a chance to meet and speak with Schrader, and he’s a good man,” said Wright, who said he endorses Schrader. “He works hard. He loves Oregon. He loves the country.

“I did learn, though, that he made a really, really bad decision on the concealed carry. It’s not one of those subtle decisions, it’s just plain bad. I think one of the reasons is he doesn’t have a vision. He’s sort of myopic. I think this is the same fault with the Democratic party.”